Dependence of geosynchrotron radio emission on the energy and depth of maximum of cosmic ray showers

2008/06/30 by T. Huege, R. Ulrich, R. Engel · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Air shower #Amplitude #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Atmosphere (unit) #COSMIC cancer database #Cascade #Cosmic ray #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Energy (signal processing) #Meteorology #Neutrino Physics Research #Nuclear physics #Optics #Physics #Radio frequency #Radio signal #Radio wave #Shower #Ultra-high-energy cosmic ray #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2008.07.003

version accepted by Astroparticle Physics; slightly changed title and wording; one additional figure

arxiv created 2008/07/17 · openalex publication_date 2008/07/28 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Based on CORSIKA and REAS2 simulations, we investigate the dependence of geosynchrotron radio emission from extensive air showers on the energy of the primary cosmic ray and the depth of the shower maximum. It is found that at a characteristic lateral distance, the amplitude of the bandpass-filtered radio signal is directly proportional to the energy deposited in the atmosphere by the electromagnetic cascade, with an RMS uncertainty due to shower-to-shower fluctuations of less than 3%. In addition, the ratio of this radio amplitude and that at a larger lateral distance is directly related to the atmospheric depth of the shower maximum, with an RMS uncertainty of ~15-20 g cm-2. By measuring these quantities, geosynchrotron radio emission from cosmic ray air showers can be used to infer the energy of the primary particle and the depth of the air shower maximum on a shower-to-shower basis.

Citations

• Energy release in air showers
• Monte Carlo simulations of geosynchrotron radio emission from CORSIKA-simulated air showers
• Relativistic Hadron-Hadron Collisions in the Ultra-Relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics Model (UrQMD)
• Radio-detection signature of high-energy cosmic rays by the CODALEMA experiment
• Radioelectric field features of extensive air showers observed with CODALEMA
• A Study of the Composition of Ultra–High‐Energy Cosmic Rays Using the High‐Resolution Fly’s Eye
• Microscopic models for ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions
• Bremsstrahlung and Pair Production in Condensed Media at High Energies
• Radio detection of cosmic ray air showers with LOPES
• Radio emission from cosmic ray air showers

Cited by

• Data acquisition, triggering, and filtering at the Auger Engineering Radio Array
• Cosmic Ray RF detection with the Astroneu array